The European cup for drinking tea evolved gradually during the first half of the eighteenth century, adapted from the Chinese porcelain tea bowls in which tea was originally drunk when it became fashionable in Europe at the end of the seventeenth century. By 1752, the Vincennes manufactory (the early name for Sèvres) was making a wide range of tea wares, many models of the early 1750s remaining in production for the rest of the century. Most cups and saucers could be used for tea, coffee or chocolate, often being sold with matching teapots or, more rarely, coffee pots.This tea service is decorated with a pale blue dotted ‘pointillé’ ground and painted with tophies of military and pastoral music instruments. The ones on the teapot and sugarbowl were painted by Louis-Gabriel Churlot (op. 1755-1800), who himself was a keen musician and represented the instruments in great detail. The decoration on cup and saucer decoration is probably the work of another artist.